Pleeo the Sandpiper's Murmurations, and other sleep tales

Props to Emmanuel Perron,
who does all the awesome illustrations at Relax Melodies

Gnome Jam - my go-to self-created mix

Some of the hundreds of sounds to pick from with the composer feature

  Have trouble sleeping?

  I’ve been writing ‘slow lit’ (bedtime stories for adults) for Relax Melodies (now known as Bettersleep) for a while now, and the first three of these tales have finally been produced and released: Gizmo the House Cat, A Penguin’s Voyage, and Pleeo the Sandpiper’s Murmurations. They’re not all about birds, but I manage to sneak birds into all of them, heh heh. More stories are on the way.

  Slow lit is a challenging genre to write — the stories have to be engaging…but also boring soothing enough to put people to sleep, so it’s a bit of a literary razor’s edge. It’s super weird to hear my stories being read by a professional narrator, with all the sound effects and music.

  Relax Melodies is a Montreal-based relaxation app, and they hustle — they have over 55 million downloads, and are always trying to tweak their product to better suit their many devoted customers. They have loads of favourable reviews from customers as well as media, with an average rating of 4.6/5 from more than 215,000 individual reviews on the apple app store.

  Aside from the stories, there are other features to help get you to sleep — meditations, breathing exercises, ‘sleep moves,’ and my favourite, the composer, where you can make your own sound mixes. I actually listen to the mixes I created most nights to help me slip off to meet the Sandman. My mixes are mostly ‘nature’s white noise’-type things, with wind and rain and whatnot, but straight-up ‘cat purring’ also knocks me out every time.

  My stories are not on the free part of the app, but there are a few other stories on there you can listen to for free on your smart phone or computer. A yearly subscription is about $30, and they often have sales. They also have a 7-day free trial, and lifetime subscription options.

  Anyway, they didn’t ask me to write this, but I reckon it’s worth a listen if you have issues slowing down your mind when trying to get to sleep.

Royal Eagle

Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos

Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus

Common Merganser Mergus merganser

Canada Goose Branta canadensis
(out standing in its field)

Great Egret Ardea alba

Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor

Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius

White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea

Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus

Slow down, Turbo, save some birds for the rest of us!

Marais de St-Timothée, (St-Louis-de-Gonzague) April 24, 2021

  Finally saw a Golden Eagle! Dunno why it’s taken me so long to see one. I always seemed to miss them on days when they were spotted at the cemetery. I blame the bill of my cap, and my penchant for staring down into the scrub. National Geographic won’t exactly be busting down my door for the 6-pixel record shot, but it makes me smile nonetheless.

  The Golden Eagle is called ‘Aigle royal’ in French. Royal Eagle works for me. It was wayyyy up there, too. Thank Odin for peripheral vision/spidey sense. The Bald Eagle, in case you were wondering, goes by ‘Pygargue à tête blanche,’ in French, which is a bizarre mouthful. Northern Harrier? Why, ‘Busard Saint-Martin,’ of course.

  All in all, a windy and sunny day out on the swamp, and a nice round 41 species logged. Felt like without the wind we could have picked up another sparrow sp or two.

  It was a day that featured plenty of staring at distant ducks through the phragmites. Thought we’d pick up at least one warbler species, maybe a Palm, but nothing. They’re on the way. The bugs have already arrived, and are waiting for them. Oh, I forgot to wear my anti-tick socks, and I was sure that my ankles were covered in seething masses of ticks the whole time.

  The American Tree Sparrows were feasting on the flying insects in the trees, and were acting rather like warblers, I thought. Spotted a couple of Barn Swallows making a quick pass…love me a Jebi – I forgot how orange they are here.

Meh Island

Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus

Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps

Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps

Red-shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus

Eastern Screech-Owl Megascops asio

Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus

Eastern Comma Polygonia comma

Compton Tortoiseshell Nymphalis vaualbum

Domaine St-Paul, Nun’s Island, April 14, 2021

  I’m not a huge fan of the vibe on Nun’s Island. Just a pitiful sliver of highly degraded greenery remains of what used to be one of the premiere birding locations in the Montreal area. Kinda reminded me of parts of Korea in that way. Condos and McMansions loom on all sides of the dying grey forest. Trying to bird while yuppies eyeball you from their swimming pool patios…way to harsh my mellow dude.

  What else sucked? Competing for space on narrow trails with snooty local perambulators, clots of screaming school kids, and bizarre drifter types. And don’t you dare wander to the spa side of the swamp, where the hot-tubs work overtime at boiling the chubby rich. Maybe I was just cranky that day, who knows.

  A bright spot was meeting local birder Marcia Mason, a recently returned Montreal expat…a real character.

  Ended up with 38 species on the day. We didn’t run into the Carolina Wren or Tufted Titmouse, but did encounter the other site celebrities: Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Eastern Screech-Owl. The big-headed Pied-billed Grebes entertained with their goofy calls and water-running.

  My bird of the day was a butterfly — a lifer — Compton Tortoiseshell. Sweet.

  That’s it.

Of Sapsuckers and Butterbutts

Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius

American Robin Turdus migratorius

Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe

Fox Sparrow Passerella iliaca

Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia

White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus

Woodchuck/Groundhog/Siffleur Marmota monax

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa

Parc Jean-Drapeau, April 11, 2021

  A solid 6-hour bimble at Parc Jean-Drapeau that featured a little bit of everything, bird-wise — plenty of first-of-year (FOY) birds, and a satisfying bite of early spring. It was a steadily birdy day, with each area of the park offering up a few species. The number 40 was put out there as a vague target to hit, and we came close at 38 species. It would be fun to push for something like 70 in about a month or so. Insert “I’m in!” meme here. I enjoy this slightly dystopian patch — there’s always lots of room there, and new forgotten corners to explore each time.

  The lovely mid-April birding session reminded me that I barely went out last spring. My stupid phone also helped remind me that it was two years ago to the day that I started my epic Yellow Sea island hopping spring jaunt on my sometimes home of Jeju Island. Sigh, to be on those islands again.

  A lone Yellow-rumped Warbler (Butterbutt) was spotted in the ‘Crossbill pines.’ It wasn’t vocalizing, and was hiding within a roiling cauldron of Dark-eyed Juncos, to make things interesting. The first warbler sighting of the year is usually an automatic ‘bird of the day,’ but there was a tie on this day with a bird of prey.

  A small falcon that went flashing past the casino had me thinking Merlin, until I got the bins on it and saw the vivid red-brown mantle and tail of a male American Kestrel. Sweet! First time I’ve ever seen the species so close to town.

  Lesser avian highlights included ‘all the sparrows,’ several Great Blue Herons showing the flashy nuptial plumes and bright breeding bill of the season, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker making fresh sap-holes (I liked how the pattern across its back mirrored the holes on the tree), and owl pellets found in several spots.

  Several Mourning Cloak (and a quick look at what was surely an Eastern Comma) were spotted when the sun punched through the haze.

  In other news, I’m officially paranoid about ticks, so I just ordered a bunch of crap that will hopefully keep me unticked.